Detroit Auto Show: Debuts from Ford, GM and Chrysler

Ford Focus: A Clear Winner

Even sitting up in the cheap seats at Cobo Hall — the site of this morning's Ford press conference kicking off the North American International Auto Show — the smile on Alan Mulally's face was clear to see. The Blue Oval's CEO was positively giddy, and for good reason: The Ford Fusion Hybrid had just been named North American Car of the Year while the Ford Transit Connect collected North American Truck of the Year honors.

Mulally then followed up that news by helping introduce the 2011 Ford Focus, a car that could very well follow in the Fusion's tire tracks as next year's winner. Yep, the new Focus looks that good.

The five-door hatchback is particularly appealing, with a silhouette that is reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class and features a higher-than-expected beltline. This makes the Focus appear longer and leaner than it really is, giving the car just a trace of the classic long hood/short decklid proportions found in classic sports cars. This is definitely a hatch that should attract even diehard sedan lovers. Of course, that being said, the sedan itself appears equally sharp; in fact, it almost looks like a wholly different model, which is a good thing for Ford.

When most OEMs offer both five-door hatchback and sedan versions of the same model, the sedan is obviously just the hatchback with the hatch removed. For the Ford Focus, Ford has just as obviously taken the time and resources to give the sedan its own organic appearance.

The new Focus also will be available with the usual complement of Ford goodies, including the next-generation Sync technology, a turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, the company's latest six-speed automatic transmission, new Electric Power Assist Steering, Ford's Dynamic Cornering Control system and coming in 2011, an electric powertrain.

Notably, all these features will be available with a "Ford price tag," too. The key is that not only will all markets now be selling essentially the same vehicle, but that vehicle's platform will be used for a further 10 new cars and trucks. This spreads costs widely across Ford's global operations, resulting in correspondingly lower prices for consumers.

It's a strategy that companies like Toyota have been successfully using for years: Vehicles as diverse as the Toyota Camry, Toyota Sienna minivan and Toyota Highlander crossover all share the Camry platform, for example. The key is to make sure platform sharing doesn't devolve into badge engineering, something GM is being careful to avoid with the GMC Granite concept.

GMC Granite: A Rock Ready to Roll

The Granite will be a companion to the coming Chevrolet Orlando multipurpose vehicle, and a possible small Buick, all of which are built on the same platform as the new Chevrolet Cruze and Volt. Again, just to emphasize the point, General Motors has done a very good job differentiating these vehicles and should gain some of the same economies of scale that Ford is gaining with the Focus platform.

I'm just not as sure that GM's products will get the same love as Ford's. The basic idea behind the Granite is a good one: A tough-looking, urban-focused utility vehicle should grab attention on the market, but the Granite eschews most of the usual SUV design hallmarks and ends up looking like an overly busy take on boxes like the Scion xB, Kia Soul and Nissan Cube.

That's not necessarily bad, but it's not a good match for GMC and shows the difficulty GM is going to have supporting its truck-only division.

Buick Regal GS: Getting the Royal Treatment

The other GM debuts this morning included a GMC Acadia that gets the division's top-level "Denali" design trim and a performance-oriented "GS" version of the coming new Buick Regal. The Denali-fication of the Acadia will have a limited impact on sales, but a Regal GS, which will almost certainly go into production, carries a heavier burden.

It's supposed to be the next step in dragging Buick into the present — and dragging younger buyers into Buicks — by building on the division's history of performance. Yes, it exists: As late as the early 1980s, Buick was still winning NASCAR championships and introducing cars like the Regal Grand National.

The basic Regal is a slightly warmed over Opel Insignia that will avoid badge-engineering complaints only because the latter won't appear in the U.S. It's an inoffensive-looking car that shows some BMW in the rear-quarter panels and a few nice touches, like nicely designed air intakes at the front and integrated, through-the-fascia exhaust ports at the rear.

The show car holstered a turbocharged EcoTec four-cylinder engine that's good for 255 hp, 295 lb-ft of torque and sub-6 second runs to 60 mph. While I've been uncertain about whether the four-cylinder Buick LaCrosse will have enough power to compete in its segment, the numbers on the Regal GS should be just fine. I just wish the Regal had the same kind of exterior flair found on the LaCrosse.

Chrysler 300: The Definition of Classic

There were also plenty of stunning models at the Chrysler/Dodge/Ram/Fiat/Lancia/Maserati/Ferrari exhibit, but most of them were of the two-legged variety. And unfortunately, even the woman who appeared to be wearing a dress made solely of strung-together metal squares couldn't distract show-goers from the ungainly Chrysler/Lancia mashup.

Much easier on the eyes were the new treatments given to vehicles like the Chrysler 300, Dodge Nitro and Jeep Wrangler, which show exactly how Chrysler will bridge the gap between its current lineup and the new Fiat-influenced products expected in the next year or so: By offering a slew of special editions that put the emphasis on the still-strong design of its cars and trucks.

Jeep revives "Islander"- and "Mountain"-themed Wranglers, the Nitro goes further over the top with trim levels called "Detonator" and "Shock" and the like, the 300 gets Audi-esque S6 and S8 models, etc., etc.

The strategy is no surprise — I've been hearing about it for a while now — but the quality of the execution was definitely unexpected, especially on the 300. Toning down the chrome and smoothing the exterior reminded me of how fresh the 300's design remains even today.

It's a victory of style over substance, but it's a victory nonetheless.